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Corporate strategyCorporate strategy
Abstract
Edited by Saul I. Gass and Carl M. Harris
The Encyclopedia provides decision makers and problem solvers in business, government and academia with a comprehensive overview of the concepts and methodologies that combine to form the fields of operations research and management science (OR/MS). More than 228 separate entries show how OR/MS applies scientific principles to decision-making, and illustrate the relationship of OR/MS to computer science, information processing, and mathematics. Each entry provides a history of the topic, describes relevant applications, surveys contemporary and future trends, and lists important references.The major expository articles are complemented with numerous secondary entries: descriptions, discussions, definitions, and abbreviations.
As the resources in a company are limited, the company should concentrate on reinforcing some particular aspects of its activities if it wishes to succeed in the industry. One concern of the theories of competitive strategy is to establish a suitable idea for identifying with certainty what aspects should be strengthened. The concept of ‘Key Factor for Success(KFS)’ is an attempt to achieve this, but the concept seems to me to be vague or rough. The aim of this paper is to clarify the problems of the existing description of KFS and try to refine the concept from a systems thinking perspective. The next section will briefly describe the literature and the problems. Then, we discuss supplementary ideas which should be considered. In conclusion, a new description of KFS will be presented.
The UK housebuilding industry faces the challenge of meeting demands for higher quality and greater choice with a construction process that has not changed for many years and a diminishing pool of skilled labour. The situation is exacerbated by the difficulties of finding sufficient land for development. This has led to a strategic bias amongst housebuilding companies towards land acquisition and asset turnover which results in a lack of customer focus. The sector is therefore vulnerable to new entrants with new technologies and more professional customer care practices. These circumstances present an opportunity for a UK housebuilder to develop competitive advantage by pursuing a strategy of innovation leadership. Such a strategy has proved successful in other sectors such as the automotive industry. This thesis analyses industry trends and lessons from best practice to shape a new competition framework for the UK housebuilding industry of the future. This suggests that research and development, product design, process and project management, relationships with customers, quality and innovation will be of growing strategic importance. Techniques such as the Balanced Scorecard, Strategy Mapping and Technology Roadmapping can help firms to explore options and formulate strategies to compete effectively in changing competitive environments. These tools have been employed to create a strategy for a major UK housebuilding company, balanced across four perspectives: financial; customer; internal business processes; learning and growth. This strategy has been implemented principally through the launch of three new businesses that have stimulated change within the core housebuilding business. Progress has been made in enhancing the company's value proposition downstream of its core business and in improving quality and efficiency through the introduction of off-site manufacturing into upstream operations. Early results suggest that innovation leadership can be an effective strategy for a UK housebuilder but progressive culture change across the industry is a key driver for long-term success.
The original publication is available at JAIST Press http://www.jaist.ac.jp/library/jaist-press/index.html IFSR 2005 : Proceedings of the First World Congress of the International Federation for Systems Research : The New Roles of Systems Sciences For a Knowledge-based Society : Nov. 14-17, 2020, Kobe, Japan Symposium 2, Session 2 : Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences Management Systems A method of business model analysis is proposed in this paper. This business model analysis is an application of the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). Strategy model is a kind of root definition and the context is a kind of declaration of Weltanschauung (W).
With the publication of his best-selling books "Competitive Strategy (1980) and "Competitive Advantage (1985), Michael E. Porter of the Harvard Business School established himself as the world's leading authority on competitive advantage. Now, at a time when economic performance rather than military might will be the index of national strength, Porter builds on the seminal ideas of his earlier works to explore what makes a nation's firms and industries competitive in global markets and propels a whole nation's economy. In so doing, he presents a brilliant new paradigm which, in addition to its practical applications, may well supplant the 200-year-old concept of "comparative advantage" in economic analysis of international competitiveness. To write this important new work, Porter and his associates conducted in-country research in ten leading nations, closely studying the patterns of industry success as well as the company strategies and national policies that achieved it. The nations are Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The three leading industrial powers are included, as well as other nations intentionally varied in size, government policy toward industry, social philosophy, and geography. Porter's research identifies the fundamental determinants of national competitive advantage in an industry, and how they work together as a system. He explains the important phenomenon of "clustering," in which related groups of successful firms and industries emerge in one nation to gain leading positions in the world market. Among the over 100 industries examined are the German chemical and printing industries, Swisstextile equipment and pharmaceuticals, Swedish mining equipment and truck manufacturing, Italian fabric and home appliances, and American computer software and movies. Building on his theory of national advantage in industries and clusters, Porter identifies the stages of competitive development through which entire national economies advance and decline. Porter's finding are rich in implications for both firms and governments. He describes how a company can tap and extend its nation's advantages in international competition. He provides a blueprint for government policy to enhance national competitive advantage and also outlines the agendas in the years ahead for the nations studied. This is a work which will become the standard for all further discussions of global competition and the sources of the new wealth of nations.
In managing strategic risk in sourcing relationships, an organization is assumed to order inputs and operations in terms of their value to accomplishing the firm's product market performance goals. Supplier relationships involving higher value inputs and operations have higher levels of strategic risk, since failure by the supplier leads to greater decline in the performance of the firm. Three types of risk are appropriation, technology diffusion, and end product degradation, which occur under different conditions. Vertical integration (or deintegration) may be undertaken as the level of strategic risk varies and the firm is more or less qualified to perform the operation relative to the best outside supplier.
Corporate strategy, the overall plan for a diversified company, is both the darling and the stepchild of contemporary management practice — the darling because CEOs have been obsessed with diversification since the early 1960s, the stepchild because almost no consensus exists about what corporate strategy is, much less about how a company should formulate it.
Sumario: What culture is and does -- The dimensions of culture -- How to study and interpret culture -- The role leadership in building culture -- The evolution of culture and leadership -- Learning cultures and learning leaders
Sumario: The nature and origin of structural change -- The process of structural change -- The management of structural change
Los autores plantean una propuesta de proceso para facilitar la formulación e implementación de una planeación estratégica, que permita imprimir la visión de la firma dentro de toda la organización.
To sum up, outstanding GMs affect their companies in six important ways. They develop a distinctive work environment; spearhead innovative strategic thinking; manage company resources productively; direct the people development and deployment process; build a dynamic organization; and oversee day-to-day operations. Individually, none of these things is totally new or unique. But successful GMs are better at seeing the interrelationships among these six areas, setting priorities, and making the right things happen. As a result, their activities in these areas make a coherent and consistent pattern that moves the business forward. These six responsibilities don't tell the whole story, of course. Leadership skills and the GM's personal style and experience are important pieces of the whole. But focusing effort in these six areas will help any GM become more effective. And that should mean making the right things happen faster and more often--which is what all of us want to achieve as general managers.